The Islamist president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was believed to have bought the border crisis to an end by deciding that he would not keep his side of the Graeco-Turkish frontier open for illegal migrants wishing to break into Europe anymore last Wednesday, due to the risk spreading coronavirus.

Turkish officials have previously claimed that at least 100,000 migrants have been released into Greece, but the Greek government disputes this, saying they have successfully held back tens of thousands and estimating the number who have made it through the land border in the hundreds.